The Origin Stones

Summary: The world powers are set to start all-out war due to the machinations of an unknown party whose decades-worth of planning still failed to prepare for one thing: ripping off Arata and Jomiko on a job.

Chapter 1 - The Beast Has Fallen

The beast was massive.

It was defeated, though, belly up and
with what arms it had left spread open in acceptance of death. It had put up a
good fight. Its claws were sharp and swift, its teeth dangerous and pointy, its
neck nimble and agile, its feet huge and heavy. Its eyes, large and
predatorial, somewhere between feline and
reptile, had failed to intimidate our heroes. Even with six of them. Its
screeching roar had failed to frighten and its muscles, heavily noticeable all
across its impressive torso, as well as across the many arms it had, failed to
impress.

It was bleeding green out of its mouth and severed limbs.
The blood was pouring down like a beautiful green-colored cascade of water,
with such an overflow that the puddles on the ground were on their to becoming
a small lake.

Some fires were still roasting parts of it, the flames being
blown away by the serene breeze that
helped that sunny day be a beautiful day for monster slaying.

Its slayers watched in
prideful awe, the beast that they had brought down. There were 7 of them,
standing in the very wide trench, almost
a road now, which the beast had carved through the floor while trying to
escape. It had almost escaped too, making them pursue it across many yards.
That was why they had had to sever or otherwise debilitate its limbs. The beast
was, additionally, notably filled with arrows, which looked really tiny on it,
like small pins, and it also sported a number of
cuts, all differently deep and wide, all across
its body and head.

“And on that day, the beast did fall!”

The other seven looked up to see the eight: a brown-haired
teen, with green eyes and green suit over his brown fur, along with very
noticeable ram horns and hooves instead of feet. A boy of the Lan race named Arata.

“Arata, what are you doing?” A boy of the Rei race asked
away. His name was Kazuki, and he dressed in black which matched his straight black hair, it all ever emphasizing
the annoyance in his red eyes.

Arata, still with a light streak of blood running down his
forehead, lifted up his two swords, one in each hand.

“They called it undefeated! They called it mighty! We called
it dead!”

“Oh my...” Another of
the slayers, Marmalade. She was a girl
also of the Lan race, a unicorn, with a yellow horn and purple hair. She face-palmed carefully, so as not to hurt
herself, and looked away in embarrassment.

“And dead it is! Woooo!” And he started dancing. Marching in
place, waving his arms around for the silliness of it all, Arata danced on the
behemoth’s corpse. More specifically, on its belly. “Oh yeah. It’s dead.”

“Arata, for crying out loud…Jomiko,”
Kazuki looked at his teammate in agony, but he didn’t find her. “Jomiko?” And then he heard her.

“Oh yeah, we killed it!”

Jomiko was
dark-skinned, sporting long dark blue hair so much so part of it was tied into
a long ponytail that reached half-way
across her back. A rat of the Lan race and thus possessing the defining tail
and ears, much like Arata’s sideways ram
horns. She had joined Arata in a synchronized victory dance. They were now
shuffling giddily, their sides turned to the watchers.

“It’s dead. It’s so dead. We’re awesome! So awesome!”

“Man, can you guys stop embarrassing us?” Kazuki
melancholically asked to the side. “Right Pix--?” He didn’t find his friend
there either. His eyes closed in pain when he heard her voice join the others.’

“Look at it. It’s big, it’s huge, it’s strong, it’s dead!”

Pixa was of the
squirrel race. She had pink eyes and hair and a very brown fur under what was usually a blue and white dress.
Unlike Jomiko, she had noticeable buck teeth. Her squirrel tail was wagging in delight as she followed her teammates’ arm motions, waving them around in a
very silly jolliness.

They were all wounded,
though. Arata had blood streaking down
his forehead, Jomiko had bloodied fists
and her fighting uniform, a sleeveless
one-piece, was ripped up. Pixa was
untouched, however. Together, before the great sense of victory, none of that
matters. With huge grins, they mock-danced their heart out in celebration.

The remaining three warriors were Miyabi, Leaf, and Ringo.

Ringo and Miyabi were untouched, but Leaf, Kazuki, and Marmalade showed cuts and bruises
around the vicinities of their extremities.
No one had gotten seriously hurt, however, so they weren’t giving it much
thought.

A sigh came from Kazuki’s side.

“I’ll never understand why you guys follow Arata,” Leaf
commented, placing the arrow back on his quiver. Leaf was a Fea with clear
yellow skin, blonde hair, blue eyes and long pointed ears, who dressed in his
nation’s green.

“We don’t,” Kazuki said, flustered, “we all have equal
standing.”

“In theory…” Miyabi said, nose up, to spite him, “but
practically, it’s as Leaf says, isn’t it?” Miyabi was a bunny of the Lan race;
she had white fur, rabbit ears, and a
fluffy tail, plus pinkish white hair, blue eyes, and was at the time dressed in
pink.

Kazuki frowned, looking at his teammates gain.

“Check it out! It’s dead! Check it out! It’s dead.”

“They-they’re dancing,” Marmalade put in, blushing.

Kazuki sighed, and Miyabi laughed, amused.

Ringo meanwhile pulled on Leaf’s shirt. She looked at him
intently but embarrassed. Leaf rolled his eyes, saying “go ahead…”

Ringo was another Fea, same color of skin but sporting red
hair and mismatched eyes, one red and the other green. She was dressed in
gardening clothes and was notably shorter, and younger, than the rest of them.

She was a funny addition to the celebration and one that finally quieted down the grumps of the
group.

A couple of days of traveling
later, the group of eight were about to reach their contractor. They were all
healed up, even if their clothes still
showed signs of the battle they been in.
Jomiko and Kazuki were carrying an eye together, one they had taken from the
beast, as a token to prove of their kill. It was still pretty big and heavy, enough so they needed both to carry. It was
evidently dried up.

Their surroundings were deserted prairies. Fields of green
with no trees in sight stretched in all directions; combed by the wind, the grass blades waved in wild patterns,
ever in a perpetual dance of tranquility.

“Well, almost done. It was kinda fun, though!” Jomiko put
in. Arata agreed with a chuckle.

“We fought well,” he agreed. He was leading the party back
to the town since he knew the way.

“Some more than others…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Arata backtracked and
squinted at Kazuki with the same force of intimidation one would expect from a
very crossed, very angry toddler.

Kazuki rolled his eyes. “Nothing, nothing…”

“Still, it’s odd that monster was worth all that prize
money,” Leaf mentioned.

“Of course we are,”
Jomiko and Arata said, in a chorus.
Realizing it, Jomiko eyed Arata in anger while he giggled amused. “You’re so
annoying,” she said, squinting her eyes.

“There’s the town!”
Arata pointed out, “follow me!” He marched forward at full speed, already
having forgotten all about Kazuki’s slight.

“Hey! We’re carrying a huge eye here, remember?!”

“Oh, right,” Arata excused with a light bow, followed by a
chuckle. He kept up with their pace as they approached the little town in the
middle of a valley. It was surrounded by wooden palisades,
which was a change of scenery from all the grass.

It had its two gates
guarded by soldiers. They were adventurers and they were about to collect on
the prize of their quest, it was the favorite part for most of them.

“What do you mean he’s not here?!”

Jomiko was angry. She was talking to a hostess over a
counter of a bunkhouse, left responsible for giving them the bad news, sweating
as she hoped Jomiko ascribed to the unwritten rule of not killing the messenger.
The monster’s eye had been placed on the ground outside where the rest of the
party stood in guard. The hostess, a large and plump Fea with white hair and
green eyes, quickly looked confused.

“You just missed him, actually. He left a few hours ago?”

“Are you kidding me?! He gave us a fortnight, it’s been,
what, a week?” She looked back at Arata
who nodded in a pout. She looked back.

“Yeah!”

“Okay but--. I don’t know, he left no messages nor any word
through which you can…well, maybe he’ll come back?”

“Don’t get snappy at me,” the hostess tried, “it’s not my fault you got swindled.”

Jomiko growled in a rage, insulted and offended. She turned
around and left the tavern, Arata
skipping his feet, following her but not too closely.

“Where is he?” Pixa
asked, curiously, apparently much more ignorant to Jomiko’s mood than everyone else.

“Gone.”

“What do you mean gone?” Miyabi immediately asked.

“I mean gone. For a few hours now, too. Let’s go check with
the guards.” Jomiko sounded angry enough that nobody thought to argue at that
point. Not even Leaf.

But when they arrived at the village gate and asked for the old bull with the silver horns, they
confirmed he had left.

“What is this?” Arata questioned, confused.

“We’ve been had, is what it is,” Jomiko spoke, marching away
from the guards at an angry pace, “he
wanted the beast dead, but didn’t have the money to pay for it, so he conned
us.” She punched her own hand. The strike echoed with power.

“Or… you conned us,” Leaf suggested.

Jomiko and Arata turned to argue but he already had an arrow
cocked and aimed at Jomiko, the fastest of them. They reacted intimidated, for
a second, due to the surprise of it, but quickly relaxed, realizing what Leaf
was doing. Kazuki dressed his face with a lack of emotion, looking calculative.
Jomiko reddened insulted while Arata frowned in confusion and Pixa in ignorance.

“We need that money, tomorrow. We wasted an entire week
hunting that thing with you guys, so one way or another, I want it. Now.” Leaf gestured menacingly, looking ruthlessly in their direction.

The wind whistled past
the now divided, silent party, failing to lower the tension that had settled. The guards, recognizing a group of chaotic adventurers when they presented themselves, quietly decided to check up on the outside of the gates.

Marmalade, flustered and hesitatingly,
joined her immediate part members by focusing her magic. Her hands glowed red.
In response, Kazuki reached for his sword, a lot less hesitating, and Jomiko
lifted her fists and positioned her feet apart, in defiance and combat
readiness.

Both Pixa and Ringo
looked on, helplessly against it all.

Arata looked from one side to the other, one hand going for
a sword, the other lifting a harmless and pleading palm, all showing his
indecision as to how to proceed.

Jhiane Rabang:
The story was so interesting. I loved how the story has plot twists that I can't expect. IT IS VERY HARD TO FIND A BOOK LIKE THIS so I suggest you read this book and I will tell you that it is worth every single second while you read this book. I can't wait to read the rest of the story.

re8622:
The Last Exodus quickly grabbed my attention. Almost as soon as I started reading the story, I couldn't put it down. I found that the ideas the author put forth were very thought provoking given the turmoil we have seen gradually rise over the last several years. I felt that I could understand th...

Marijana1:
The melancholy present throughout this story has the power to influence and etch into the minds of the readers, to stay there and refuse to leave even after they have finished reading the story. This is a deep, powerful story, making the readers wonder about everything – about love, about their e...

Sonali Srivastava:
It is very Fancinating to read a story full of Fantasy and specially when love is not complete as story , I really like the Imagination of Author and his writing skill, u dictated everything so beautifuly that when I read it I lost in the story and I hope I will read soon the second year of Zakir...

Drew C. Elyon:
I've only read one chapter so far, but from what I've seen, this is steampunk at its best. The narrative flows so beautifully I could envision every scene in an almost cinematic fashion. I believe in the complexity of simplicity, and this story has that in its descriptions.

NancyRichFoster:
This second book of the Anmah Series was as awesome as the first story, I disagree with spare runner. The names were ordinary names with different spellings, which I for one loved. I am now going to read the third book in this amazingly awesome story!

Kevin Brand:
My overall rating: 4.8/5 starsLoved. Every. Second. Everytime I came back to continue reading I got this overwhelming feeling of getting hooked on the first sentence... Over and over and again!The only things that were missing for me include more descriptions on what happens when Reuben touches s...

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